Belong
by ThisIsJayKay
Summary: One moment he and Rose were acquaintances competing at school and the next he was slipping a ring over her finger.


**Author's Note:** _As always, the usual note about the fact that I take great care to use British spelling, grammar and punctuation as much as I can with one exception, and that's how I spell "okay". I used to stick to "OK" but the American version looks nicer to me.  
_

* * *

"Potter."

"Malfoy."

There was a silence in the train compartment. Then—

"Want to play Exploding Snap?"

* * *

"This is my cousin Rose," Albus said to Scorpius. The redhead in question smiled. "But you don't need any introduction, do you? You're in the same house."

"Yeah," Scorpius replied, grinning. "We come up against each other from time to time, don't we, Weasley?"

"Oh, yes," Rose confirmed, a twinkle in her eyes. She looked at Albus. "He tries to get better grades than me, did you know that?"

"I've heard," Albus said dryly.

* * *

Scorpius arranged his features into an expression of awe as Rose descended from the Ravenclaw girls' dormitories in a knee-length dress, ready for the New Year's party. "Ooh," he said, smirking. "You've got _legs_, Rose." Winking, he swatted her thigh.

She slapped said appendages away. "Hands off where they don't belong," she teased.

* * *

Lorcan Scamander shot Scorpius a cheeky grin across the table. "You fancy her, don't you?"

Scorpius accidentally bit his tongue as he tried in vain to swallow the morsel of steak-and-kidney pie that was beginning to feel like it was going to choke him. "Who?"

Lorcan leaned forward. "_Rose._"

Scorpius made a non-committal _pfft_ noise and accidentally spewed bits of pie across the table. "I don't fancy her!" he said heatedly. "She's my best friend! You—" he took a deep breath "—you're just a kid, Lorcan. You don't understand."

Lorcan looked highly offended, but a second later spoke again. "What is that _smell_?" Leaning in closer to Scorpius, he gasped, his eyes slightly watery. "Blimey, Scorpius, you've put on so much cologne! It's James's brand, isn't it? You seem to like it a lot. What did you do, spill the entire contents on your shirt?"

With a jolt, he remembered how he'd been too lost in thought about Rose that morning to notice that he'd sprayed a lot of the stuff on his shirt.

_Women_.

* * *

"Why do you _care_ so much?" Rose hurled at him from across the abandoned History of Magic classroom. "What's your bloody problem, anyway?"

"I _care_ because—" Scorpius stumbled with his words, the anger that had swelled in him when he'd heard Rose was dating Patrick Finnigan giving way to hesitation, embarrassment, confusion: what was he supposed to _say_? "—because I—"

He couldn't say it. He _couldn't_. Because what if—_  
_

"Because you _what_?" Rose snapped; her breathing was irregular, her face scarlet. "_What_, Scorpius?"_  
_

"Forget it." His voice cracked. "It—it doesn't matter." He turned around and hightailed it out of the room before Rose could question him further.

* * *

"They broke up," Darla Thomas informed him as he made his way to the Potions classroom.

"Hmm?" he said absent-mindedly: his attention was focused on a familiar head of red hair a couple of feet away from him. Rose was in deep conversation with one of her dorm-mates. He wanted to go near her, to talk to her, but he couldn't. Not now. Things were still a little on edge between the two of them.

"Rose. I'm talking about Rose and Patrick."

Scorpius's head snapped up at the mention of her name. "How d'you know?" he said suspiciously.

"Jenny told me a while ago. Figured I'd come and make sure you know, because ..." Darla grinned, shrugging. "Well, the entire school is aware of your crush on her."

Scorpius was seized by a sudden bout of frustration. "Well, then, how come _she_ doesn't get it?"

Darla shrugged. "Maybe it's the other way around this time. The girl's the oblivious, thickheaded one, not the bloke."

* * *

Scorpius couldn't decide whether he wanted to kill or hug Slughorn. The sodding professor was making them study, of all things, _Amortentia_.

"I smell ..." Rose paused, frowning. "_Cologne_. I think—Merlin, I think it's the one James released a couple of months ago. Number Three, I think?"

The boy wasted no time in snogging her the moment they were out of class.

Maybe the Potions professor deserved a rib-cracking hug after all.

* * *

_How time flies by_.

The phrase had always irked Scorpius, yet he found himself pondering over the truth in it right now. Because one moment he and Rose were acquaintances competing at school and the next he was slipping a ring over her finger.

"You may kiss the bride."

Because finally, _finally_, they belonged.


End file.
